Roll feed for metal-heading machines



July 31, 1928.

4. E. PRAGNY ROLL FEEDkv FOR METAL HEADING MACHINES Filed April e, 1927'1l/111101111, upf/1111111.

lHIIHUHHIHIIIIllllllillllllll Patented .lilly 31, 1928.

starts estasi" @vlo JOHN E. PRACNY, 0F WATERBUBY, CONNECTECT, ASSIGNORTO THE E. J. MANVILLE IWLACIHITE CGMIPANY, v@E VJTERBURZ, CONNECTICUT, ACQRYOBATION OF .(OLI- Application ined Aprn s,

Stock in the form of a rod or a continuous coil of wire is commonly fedinto machines in which it is swaged, headed 01 punched, by rolls thatgrip the stock and are vintermittently rotated to advance the end of thestock to the operating tools. The present invention relates moreparticularly to means provided for separating the feed rolls of suchmachines whereby the operator is enabled to easily pull out the end of acoil or rod and insert the end of another bundle of stock. n

The object of the invention is to arrange a simple and convenient meanswhichcan be quickly manipulated with but little effort for releasing thegrip of the feed rolls upon the stock.

rlhis object is attained by mounting the shaft which carries one of thefeed rolls and is provided with a rotating gear, in apillow block thatat one end is pivot-ed in its support and at the other end engaged by acam, having an operating handle, in such manner that by turning thehandle to one position the cam .swings the pillow block and slightlyseparates one rollA from. the other, and when the handle is turned toanotherposition the cani allows the pillow block to be returned by asilirinn to its normal position in which the rol will grip and feedstock.

lin the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 shows a` side elevation of a rollfcednieehanism which embodies this invention. Fig. 2 shows z front viewof the mechanism with one of the feed rolls broken away. Figi 3 is adetail section showing the pivoted pillow block and the shaft with themovable feed roll and rotating gear carried thereby, also the rollclosing spring and opening cam.

The feed mechanism illustrated is es ried by a bracket 1 designed to befastened to the frame 2 of the heading or similar machine with which itis te be used. Supported in suitable bearings in the lower part of thebracket is a shaft 3 that is adapted to be intermittently rotated by themechanism usually employed for that purpose. A feed roll 4- is fastenedto this shaft on one side of the bracket and a spur gear' is fastened tot-he shaft on the other side of the bracket.y

The complementary feed roll 6 and spur gear 7 are fastened to a shaft-8which is nenn ini-nn ron MnfrnL--rinnnrne- Maenrnns.

feed roll. end of the block is a cam 12 which is fastened to a spindle13 that turns in the bracket and on its outer end has a hand lever 14;.A spring 15 is arranged in the upper part of the bracket so as to beardown upon'the swinging or feed` roll end of the pillow block. Thetension of this spring is regulated by a screw 16 that is provided withhandle bars 17 and that is threaded through the top of the bracket andthrusts against a plate 18 which rests upon the top of the spring. Alock nut 19 having a handle 2O is turned on the tension screw for thepurpose of preventing` the screw from turning after the required tensionof the spring is obtained. A guide bushing 21 is arranged tangentiallyto the meeting point of the feed roll peripheries to guide the stockbetween the rolls.

Vllhen it is desired to start a piece of stock into the machine orremove a piece of stock from the machine to which this feed mechanism isapplied, the hand lever is turned and the cam rotated so as to lift theswinging end of the pillow block and thus raise the upper feed roll theslight distance necessary to prevent the rolls from gripping the stock.After the end of a length of stock has been entered through the guidebushing and passed between the rolls the hand lever is turned and camrotated so as to allow spring to force the pillow block down and causethe rolls to grip the stock with the required feed ing tension.Altl'iough the tension of 'the spring is quite heavy, in order that therolls may properly grip and feed the stock, the frictional grip of therolls on the stock may be instantly released with but slight effort bysimply turning the hand lever which rotates the cam that eausesftheseparation of the rolls and when the handle is turned back the normalfeeding pressure is resumed. For the purpose of description the memberthat is provided for swinging the pillow block against the tension ofthe spring and separating the feed rolls, is termed a cam.

lun

It is to be understood however that this term includes an eccentric asillustrated in the drawings.

The invention claimed is:

A roll feed mechanism comprising a bracket, a shaft having an attachedfeed roll and rotating gear mounted in the bracket, a pillow blockpivotally attached lto the bracket and carrying a shaft having an at- 10Vtached feed roll and rotating gear, a spring thrusting against theupper face of the pillow block adjacent to the feed roll carriedthereby, a screw arranged to tension the spring against the pillowblock, a cam adapted to engage the under face of the pillow blockadjacent to said feed roll, and a manually operated lever for turningthe cam into and out of engagement with the pillow block.

JOHN E. PRACN Y.

